


A Study In Runes

by mansikka



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Runes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-16 21:19:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11837256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mansikka/pseuds/mansikka
Summary: Magnus pays some attention to Alec's runes.





	A Study In Runes

**Author's Note:**

> Hello :) there are a few posts going around Tumblr at the moment with runes; this fic is inspired by them all (thank you!) 
> 
> I know very little about Book!Magnus I'm afraid, but based on Wiki pages, if Magnus was raised in 16th century Batavia/Jakarta, then it's likely he would have spoken/known both Portuguese and 'Classical' Malay, hence the Jawi script that was adopted at the time. I could be way off, I know; this is only an interpretation :) x

“This one?”

“Stealth,” Alec replied, and there was a smile to the word, curling it up in amusement and contentment, and practically inviting Magnus to kiss a second trail over the simple swirl of the rune.

“Mm,” Magnus agreed, nuzzling against his shoulder, “I suppose you are that. And this one?”

Alec flinched a little, a single blast of laughter ringing out that Magnus was helpless not to grin at hearing. “Fortitude,”

“Courage in pain or adversity. So very fitting,” Magnus said, tracing the rune with his fingertip deliberately soft, and smiling as Alec squirmed again. “Tell me, Shadowhunter; is there not a rune to prevent you from being ticklish?”

“I’m not—” but Alec’s protest was cut off by Magnus flipping him on to his stomach, sitting on the backs of his thighs to keep him from moving, and running his fingertips repeatedly up his sides as Alec cried and laughed helplessly, attempting to wriggle away from the tease of his touch.

“You were saying?” Magnus asked, not hiding the triumph from his voice, nor the delight in his laughter as Alec nuzzled his way into his pillow, his shoulders dropping with a humph of defeat.

“I’m… only like this with you,” he said, muffled against the fabric, letting out a further contented sigh.

“I should hope so,” Magnus agreed, running his hands up the length of his back and bending over him to kiss into the nape of his neck, smiling there at Alec’s appreciative hum. “Now. Where was I?”

“Here’s good,” Alec replied, pressing back against him, and Magnus lowered himself, resting his full weight on him and allowing his eyes to fall closed as his head dropped to Alec’s shoulder, that sense of completeness only being with Alec gave coursing through him. He pulled his arms in to Alec’s sides and squeezed, tucking his fingers under his chest, touching him at every point possible, and smiling when Alec slid his hands out from under the pillows to thread his fingers through his own and keep him in place.

Moments like those ones, Magnus thought, smiling and dropping repeated kisses into Alec’s skin wherever he could get to, were those that he cherished most. The entire outside world shut out and just the two of them, as bared to one another as it was possible to be, free of interruption, free of responsibility, and duty, freedom to just be together. He wouldn’t trade a second of them for anything, and every one they shared left him greedy for more.

“I love you,” Magnus said, pressing it into his neck, feeling Alec smile once again and pull him closer still. And for a long few moments they laid together saying nothing else at all, breathing one another in in the silence of their room.

“What about this one?” Magnus asked, when he could bring himself to move again, sliding down beside him and stroking a hand down Alec’s arm.  

“Soundless,”

“Soundless,” Magnus repeated, thoroughly amused, “Alexander, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I do believe this rune isn’t working,”

“That,” Alec began to counter, though turning his arm so Magnus could kiss over the rune more freely, “is entirely your fault,” and clearly Alec’s mind had gone to the same place as Magnus’, two evenings ago in a hotel in Rome, where he’d had to use a silencing charm as the people in the neighboring room hadn’t appreciated the sounds coming out of Alec’s mouth quite as much as Magnus had.  

Magnus raised his head just enough to catch the tint of blush on Alec’s cheeks, and tangled their fingers together in a squeeze before dropping them to trace over a rune on his back. “And this?”

“Endurance,”

“This one?”

“Equilibrium,”

“This?”

“Courage in combat…”

“Now, this one I recognize. This one is Talent, correct?”

“It is,” Alec replied, that smile back in his voice, “how’d you know that one and not all the rest?”

“Because you are talented,” Magnus replied in tease, angling himself to sweep the stubble of his chin over the length of the rune, and peppering more kisses into his skin.

“At what?”  

“Oh,” Magnus sighed, greedily sweeping his hands over Alec’s back again then draping himself half over him, “just about everything,”

“You might be biased,” Alec said, but with little force to it, already turning his head away so Magnus had full access to his Deflect rune.  

Magnus could spend literal hours detailing every nuance of that rune. First with fingers tracing out its pattern and repeating the strokes that had burnt it into Alec’s flesh, then with his lips, kissing a path along it and luxuriating in the taste of him. Alec hummed his way through it, soft blasted sighs of pleasure accompanying all of Magnus’ ministrations, melting and molding beneath his touch as though each gesture made him fluid.

Alec shifted then, rolling his hips a little into the bed in the way that told Magnus just how much he was enjoying what he was doing to him. And Magnus couldn’t help return the gesture, rocking into his side, sweeping his hand down the length of his back and spreading it in claim over his ass, smiling as Alec arched his hips in encouragement.

With a gentle roll Magnus urged Alec over on to his back, straddling his hips and smiling down at the view of the two of them beginning to stir together, bracketing Alec’s face between his elbows and kissing him sweetly as he continued the leisurely circling of his hips. When he sat back up, taking his time to squeeze Alec’s nipples between his fingers and thumbs, playing with the hair of his chest before dragging his hands away, Alec beamed up at him, stroking his hands down Magnus’ thighs and squeezing them there.

“That one is Jace’s,” Magnus said then, giving a brief, almost-dismissive swirl of his thumb over the Parabatai rune, conflicting feelings for having another person etched into Alec’s skin along with all that being a Parabatai represented. Alec clearly noticed the change of his tone, because he reached out to gently grab Magnus’ wrist, flattening his hand out over his stomach and pressing it there.

“Yeah, but everything else is yours,” Alec replied, in that soft caress of words he only ever used with Magnus, placating him in an instant.

“This one?” Magnus asked then, sweeping his hand up over Alec’s torso, and smiling at the way he arched up.

“Agility,”

“And this one?”

“Stamina,”

“Well, you do have that,” Magnus agreed, never failing to enjoy the way Alec’s cheeks lit up with blush when he flirted with him like he did, even after all the things they had done together. He enjoyed it enough to lean back up and nuzzle against his cheek, claim another kiss, then kiss his way back down his chest with an accompanying sweep of his fingers.

“This one means Promise,” Alec said then, wrapping his fingers around Magnus’ so he could trace out the pattern.  

“And what are you promising me?” Magnus asked in a soft demand, bending to follow the trail of his fingers with his lips.

“Anything,” Alec said, arching up as Magnus slid his hands around his hips, “everything. Whatever you want,”

“Mm,” Magnus agreed, nuzzling over his stomach and beginning a trail of kisses that moved lower and lower still, “I like the sound of that,”

“Magnus,” Alec called out softly, splaying his legs a little as Magnus moved to settle between them, smoothing a hand over his shoulder blades as he bent back down, and letting out a soft moan.

“You know, Alexander,” Magnus said, sliding his hands beneath Alec’s thighs to raise them either side of him then shuffling further down the bed, “it occurs to me, that there is not one single, permanent mark of me on you anywhere,”

“I could say the same of you,” Alec countered, raising an eyebrow, as Magnus pressed a kiss to the inside of his knee then rested his cheek there and looked up at him.

“True,”  

“Would you want there to be?” Alec asked then, his voice twisting in curiosity, enough to make Magnus turn his head and press another kiss into his skin, this time a little further up his thigh.

“I suppose it is unnecessary,” Magnus replied, continuing the trail of kisses up until Alec was stuttering out a breathy gasp, “though while I have you here,”

“Wha—”

But Magnus was shifting again, pressing his knees beneath Alec’s splayed thighs and stroking down the length of them, then raising his hands and conjuring a swirl of color from his fingertips, before passing it from palm to palm. He smiled at Alec then, taking in his eyes full of interest, the way he laid prone, pliant, and trusting beneath him with not even a flicker of doubt, and allowed his heart to soar.  

“Jawi is an Arabic script that was used to write the Malay language, the language of my mother. It has been centuries since I have spoken it, let alone written it. Though I think you will agree it is quite... elegant; enough to rival your runes,” Magnus added, twirling his fingers to form a character in the air between them that Alec’s eyes raised to and were riveted by.

“What’s that mean?”

“This means _cherished_ ,” Magnus replied, allowing the word to pulse for a second before lowering it, laying it on the unblemished expanse of Alec’s stomach and watching as it flared with color, then imprinted into his skin with a glow. Alec raised his head enough to look for himself and smiled, reaching out to trace over it before smiling back up at him. Magnus took that as a sign to continue, so conjured another word.

“And this?” Alec asked, watching the flick of his fingers as the word formed.

“ _Eternity_ ,”  

Alec’s face lit up, watching as Magnus lowered the word again, this time to settle a little above his belly button, both of them watching as it flared then faded there. Alec’s eyes raised to fix on him, warm and inviting, and Magnus would be a lesser being if he could resist leaning down over him for another kiss.  

Immediately Alec’s arms were around him, sighing his way into the kiss and arching in appreciation as Magnus settled against him, and as he always felt when they were like that together, Magnus was sure he could lose hours to just kissing Alec. Not one minute of it ever felt like a waste. Alec pulled him closer still as though he could never be close enough, and if there was ever a gesture of Alec's love that Magnus cherished the most, it might be that one.

Eventually though, Alec’s palms spreading wide and warm in claim against his lower back, pulling them tight together and in doing so giving a reminder of where things had been heading for them, called Magnus to move things along. Magnus pulled himself away, sitting back up and conjuring yet another word in the air, and Alec tilted his chin towards it in question, settling back against his pillow as he waited for him to speak.

“This one,” Magnus said, giving an extra flourish of his fingers so the word would shimmer and pulse, “this one is perhaps the most important,”

“Oh yeah?” Alec asked, reaching out his hand and stroking over the word mid-air.

“Yes,” Magnus replied, his eyes fixing on Alec’s as he lowered the word towards his torso, settling it over his heart, both of them watching as it faded into his skin.

“What’s it say?”

Magnus waited until the final flicker of light from the word dropped away, then raised his eyes to look at him again.  

“It says, Alexander,” Magnus began, leaning down to kiss him once more, though at the same time giving a slow, deliberate stir of his hips, “that you are loved. That you have been loved. And that you will always be loved. By me,”

Alec’s smile for him then was both teary and triumphant, and he swept his hands over Magnus’ back to tug him closer still, then flipped them over, murmuring _I love you_ repeatedly between kisses until Magnus was sure his heart might burst from hearing it.


End file.
